So I got a putter fitting and the results are.. umm.. frustrating

[lastings]

10 minutes ago, iacas said:

Things about stuff and places

Well, first off, I am pretty new to the whole getting clubs fit game and what not.    But, the place I'd be headed to is Totally Driven in Edina, MN.   http://www.totallydriven.com  
I don't know anything about their reputation as an Edel fitter, but, they seem to have a pretty strong all around reputation.    The only AimPoint certified instructor around here works there as well.   But, as far as reputations go, I';d venture to guess that you know more than I.   

All that said, their putter fitting is 75 bucks, 50 bucks with the holiday special.   I honestly don't care about the 50 bucks.  I just want to find the right putter, and more importantly, I'd like to make a few more putts.   
It sounds to me as though you think I may not be on the right track?  If that's the case, the 50 bucks is much less important that getting on the right track is.   

All that said, though.   Let's just say, I do this, and I'm just not comfortable with the look of the Edel putter (because sometimes I'm too stubborn for my own good), The fitter would be able to apply the knowledge gained from the Edel fitting to a different putter with similar characteristics, right? 




 

[iacas]

22 minutes ago, lastings said:

Well, first off, I am pretty new to the whole getting clubs fit game and what not.    But, the place I'd be headed to is Totally Driven in Edina, MN.   http://www.totallydriven.com  
I don't know anything about their reputation as an Edel fitter, but, they seem to have a pretty strong all around reputation.    The only AimPoint certified instructor around here works there as well.   But, as far as reputations go, I';d venture to guess that you know more than I.   

All that said, their putter fitting is 75 bucks, 50 bucks with the holiday special.   I honestly don't care about the 50 bucks.  I just want to find the right putter, and more importantly, I'd like to make a few more putts.   
It sounds to me as though you think I may not be on the right track?  If that's the case, the 50 bucks is much less important that getting on the right track is.   

All that said, though.   Let's just say, I do this, and I'm just not comfortable with the look of the Edel putter (because sometimes I'm too stubborn for my own good), The fitter would be able to apply the knowledge gained from the Edel fitting to a different putter with similar characteristics, right?

I can't tell you what to do, of course, but it sounds like $50 isn't much to you for a fitting, so if that's the case, I'd recommend going and "seeing what you see."

Go in with an open mind. Read the topic here on the fitting process. Tell the fitter about your past experience.

Hell, if you can aim one of the torque-balanced ones and you really are convinced you don't like toe hang, that may be the way to go. If you can aim one of them, that is.

[inthecup]

4 hours ago, iacas said:

I mostly question the "toe hang" bit and how it relates to a stroke given the negligible forces required to overcome "toe hang." That the OP stated that toe hang was the death of him and then ended up with a half-toe-hang putter speaks to the BS that putter fitters offer to people, IMO.

I wouldn't say my opinions on putting are deeply rooted. I use the SAM several times per week, many weeks… and I plan to visit Bruce at some point, and David Orr as well, and am open to hearing about how different putters affect things (or not).

I have been on a SAM putt lab twice and I thought it was incredibly interesting.  I really know very little about putter design theory or fitting.  I am very pleased with my current putter and couldn't tell you what kind of toe hang it has.  I did look into an Edel fitting but I was not comfortable with who was doing it locally.

[WUTiger]

On 12/19/2017 at 12:52 PM, lastings said:

anyone have any thoughts?   Anyone wanna talk me down from the ledge of buying a stupid Spider?  

A cautionary tale shared by a newly-wed female golf pro in our area.

For Christmas, she custom-fitted her new husband for a Ping putter. Fast forward to the spring: She comes in from work, and finds the putter leaning against the garage work bench.

At supper she remarked to hubby that he had left his putter in the garage.

With a red face, he said, "Honey, I left it there on purpose. It just doesn't work."

Advice from the pro: Custom putter fittings are great, except when they're not.

As I've mentioned before, golf is a cyborg activity: blending man and machine (in this case, golf clubs) into an effective system. Since putting is such an emotional, almost faith-based activity, the mechanical balancing won't work if you don't feel confident in the end result.

Borrowing from the old golf axiom, "You have to commit to the shot," you also have to commit to the club. If after custom fitting it just doesn't work, move on to something that does.

[MuniGrit]

Does anyone ever feel like when they putt in the stores everything goes in? I always feel like the turf funnels to the hole. I can make everything inside even with putters I hate. I need to put the putter in play to make a real determination.

Edited December 23, 2017 by MuniGrit

[dennyjones]

1 minute ago, MuniGrit said:

Does anyone ever feel like when they putt in the stores everything goes in? I always feel like the turf funnels to the hole. I can make everything inside even with putters I hate. I need to put the putter in play to make a real determination.

That's primarily why I want to wait until I can putt outside next spring to get fitted for a new putter.   On indoor putting greens, for me, I find it hard to differentiate between anything but the weight and length of the putter.  

[iacas]

6 hours ago, WUTiger said:

Since putting is such an emotional, almost faith-based activity,

Yeah, no.

Look, confidence in your putting is important, but there's gotta be a limit. Putting is Read, Bead, and Speed. A good putter can/should help with the latter two.

Get those three things in order and you'll have the good "emotions" and good "faith" you need.

[lastings]

::::UPDATE::::

Went in for an Edel fitting yesterday.    talked with the guys for a while.   

First off - For those in Minnesota, Totally Driven in Edina, MN is a very cool place.   This place is basically a golf gym/club builder, rather than a retail store.   Staff there is very, very knowledgeable.   Swing coach and putting coach for the University of Minnesota golf team both work there.   just a really great experience.   I got a wedge fitting and a putter fitting.   no need to discuss the wedge fitting here, though.  

We started on the SAM putt lab and did many of the same things as my previous fitting.   

Then we did the aim test (exactly as described in the Edel Fitting post).    Turns out, I'm quite good at aiming most styles, but Anser style heads I was repeatedly aiming directly above the laser every time.    (he actually guessed that I was peeking, so he had me walk away, go putt to another hole, come back and line up a putt.   BAM! directly above the laser).    That certainly gave me m some confidence.   

I still aimed different mallets well, but not as consistently.   

We talked for a while about what I knew (or thought I knew) about putters.   I brought up the counter-balanced shafts and what not.   he didn't love the idea for me.   his thoughts were as follows, "when I was watching you on the SAM, your first backswing had a little loop in it, after that they were all dead straight.  It's not a mechanical issues, it's in my head.   when I am uncomfortable with my stroke or lack confidence, weird things happen, but we'll see how you do with the counter balance one as well."  

new we did the distance testing, though he wasn't using Edel exclusively.   As I was curious, I asked why.   pretty simple, he said.  You can build a putter to have a similar weight profile, but they don't necessarily feel the same.  made sense to me.   

We hit a lot of putters.   An Mallet Edel he was tinkering with, a Spider, A Futura, An Edel Anser head he was tinkering with, PXG Anser, Scotty Newport 2, a couple different Pings.   something else, I can't quite remember.   

Even though I wasn't lining up the Mallets quite as well, It wasn't bad.   He wanted to see what effect they had on my distance control.   blah, blah, blah, swing swing swing.   I'm not getting a mallet.   Distance dispersion and consistency is worse than the Anser style heads combined with the fact I didn't aim them as well, not the right fit for me.    He mentioned he thought this would be the case, but had me do the tests to ensure I walked away confident in whatever I picked.  Meanwhile, I happened to widdle out the Pings as well.  face didn't fells as good, neither did swing weight.   The ball also seems to skip a bit more, but he mentioned that a loft adjustment could correct that if I happened to like them.    I didn't.   

So, now I'm left with the Edel with the Anser style head, Scotty Cameron Newport 2, and PXG Brandon.  I loved all 3, to be honest.   I would have been happy walking gout of there with any of them.   And I was hitting them all about the same.   

From a looks standpoint, it wen't The PXG, Scotty, Edel.   Overall, I like the PXG the best, but the Scotty grip is my favorite.   (obviously, grips can be changed).    I may have liked the PXG just a touch more, but not enough to justify the $500+ price tag.   (though, I was close to pulling the trigger).   So...  Putter is ordered.   Scotty Cameron Newport 2.   and I am quite happy with my decision. 

Edited December 28, 2017 by lastings

[billchao]

5 hours ago, lastings said:

::::UPDATE::::

Went in for an Edel fitting yesterday.    talked with the guys for a while.   

First off - For those in Minnesota, Totally Driven in Edina, MN is a very cool place.   This place is basically a golf gym/club builder, rather than a retail store.   Staff there is very, very knowledgeable.   Swing coach and putting coach for the University of Minnesota golf team both work there.   just a really great experience.   I got a wedge fitting and a putter fitting.   no need to discuss the wedge fitting here, though.  

We started on the SAM putt lab and did many of the same things as my previous fitting.   

Then we did the aim test (exactly as described in the Edel Fitting post).    Turns out, I'm quite good at aiming most styles, but Anser style heads I was repeatedly aiming directly above the laser every time.    (he actually guessed that I was peeking, so he had me walk away, go putt to another hole, come back and line up a putt.   BAM! directly above the laser).    That certainly gave me m some confidence.   

I still aimed different mallets well, but not as consistently.   

We talked for a while about what I knew (or thought I knew) about putters.   I brought up the counter-balanced shafts and what not.   he didn't love the idea for me.   his thoughts were as follows, "when I was watching you on the SAM, your first backswing had a little loop in it, after that they were all dead straight.  It's not a mechanical issues, it's in my head.   when I am uncomfortable with my stroke or lack confidence, weird things happen, but we'll see how you do with the counter balance one as well."  

new we did the distance testing, though he wasn't using Edel exclusively.   As I was curious, I asked why.   pretty simple, he said.  You can build a putter to have a similar weight profile, but they don't necessarily feel the same.  made sense to me.   

We hit a lot of putters.   An Mallet Edel he was tinkering with, a Spider, A Futura, An Edel Anser head he was tinkering with, PXG Anser, Scotty Newport 2, a couple different Pings.   something else, I can't quite remember.   

Even though I wasn't lining up the Mallets quite as well, It wasn't bad.   He wanted to see what effect they had on my distance control.   blah, blah, blah, swing swing swing.   I'm not getting a mallet.   Distance dispersion and consistency is worse than the Anser style heads combined with the fact I didn't aim them as well, not the right fit for me.    He mentioned he thought this would be the case, but had me do the tests to ensure I walked away confident in whatever I picked.  Meanwhile, I happened to widdle out the Pings as well.  face didn't fells as good, neither did swing weight.   The ball also seems to skip a bit more, but he mentioned that a loft adjustment could correct that if I happened to like them.    I didn't.   

So, now I'm left with the Edel with the Anser style head, Scotty Cameron Newport 2, and PXG Brandon.  I loved all 3, to be honest.   I would have been happy walking gout of there with any of them.   And I was hitting them all about the same.   

From a looks standpoint, it wen't The PXG, Scotty, Edel.   Overall, I like the PXG the best, but the Scotty grip is my favorite.   (obviously, grips can be changed).    I may have liked the PXG just a touch more, but not enough to justify the $500+ price tag.   (though, I was close to pulling the trigger).   So...  Putter is ordered.   Scotty Cameron Newport 2.   and I am quite happy with my decision. 

Glad you got a good fitting experience. Do you see what I meant when I said the fitting process gives you that confidence you're looking for?

Now you won't need to question your putter. You know you can aim it, you know you can control the distance. Now you just need to make the stroke. Roll them true and make lots of birdies 

[lastings]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

Glad you got a good fitting experience. Do you see what I meant when I said the fitting process gives you that confidence you're looking for?

Now you won't need to question your putter. You know you can aim it, you know you can control the distance. Now you just need to make the stroke. Roll them true and make lots of birdies 

Oh wait... I still have to putt?  I figured after all this the putter would just roll them in for me!